My 'Midseason' Awards - RaychelSnr's Blog

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RaychelSnr's Blog

My 'Midseason' Awards Stuck

Posted on July 2, 2009 at 01:56 PM.

(13)

Usually, this week is one of the slower weeks in sports gaming with it being the week of July 4th. Of course, this week also marks the first week of the second half of 2009. With that, I have compiled a list of the best games of the first half of the year, see if you agree or disagree:

Surprise of 2009: UFC 2009 Undisputed - I honestly expected the game to be pretty good. Instead, it turned out to be a sleeper game of the year type of game.

Text-Sim of the Year: World of Mixed Martial Arts 2 - OOTP and Football Manager both could be here, but my favorite text-sim of the year 'so far' has been WMMA 2.

Game of the Year: MLB '09: The Show - I still think this game is one of the all-time greats. Many disagree, but the gameplay and experience is just spot on for me.

So what do you think? What are your awards? What other categories and winners would you include?

Comments

# 1 Bumble14 @ Jul 2

Here are my awards:

Surprise of 2009: NCAA Football 10 shipping with broken rosters and sliders. Honestly, how in the world did the NCAA team allow these two core issues with last years game go uncorrected?

Potential Sleeper of the Year: NBA Live 10.

I was a big fan of Live 09, and there is just some sort of mystique surrounding this years game that has me excited about the Live series again.This could truly be the year that Live dethrowns 2K in basketball.

Game of the Year: NHL 10.

If the board play, scrums, new goalie animations, and first person fighting all deliver, NHL 10 could be the greatest sports game ever created. As much as I liked 09 it was not my pick for GOTY- EA picked up on 09's weaknesses, and have this die hard hockey fan chomping at the bit to play this game.....just so I can beat those darn Penguins with my Wings!!

Why I Can't Say the Show is GOTY: I'm probably in the minority here (and am OK with it), but I felt the Show 09 was actually a step back from 08. Graphically the game looked great, the atmosphere and presentation were unmatched, but the game just never wowed me on the field. There were just too many nagging issues like plays that felt scripted,AI that mysteriously made your leads vanish, RTTS freezing bugs, roster issues, career stat issues, and a downright boring Franchise mode, for me to really get into the game.

Let's just put it this way- I went out and bought a new PS2 a few weeks back just to play MVP NCAA Baseball 07 to get a baseball fix. That's saying something.

Franchise That is Headed the Way of 2K Baseball: NCAA Football.

It makes me sad to say that my all time favorite sports franchise does not seem to be getting the tender loving care it deserves. I hope the NCAA team can pull it together before the franchise becomes irrelevant to the hardcore fans like myself.

# 2 RaychelSnr @ Jul 2

Good thoughts Christian. Just for the record, I was only including released games

I think NHL 10 has great potential...no doubt about it.

# 3 geezmeister @ Jul 2

MLB the show the best game of the year no doubt. We will just have to see how this madden turns out it looks pretty sick.

# 4 WatchdogXC @ Jul 2

I definitely agree on The Show as the game of the year. I'm not really interested in UFC at all but just playing the demo showed me that it was a good game. I just assumed that the game would probably not be any good but a lot of people love it.

I'd love to see NBA 10 be at the overall quality level of The Show.

# 5 statum71 @ Jul 2

Yeah, even with the glitch issues, The Show is still the best game so far this year for me. I'm hoping Madden will be my surprise and most improved of the year.

# 6 Artman22 @ Jul 2

I love MLB the show, but i dont know how can this be sports game of the year with all the problems and glitches this game has this year. Even though I love baseball as my number one sport, MLB the show should not receive this award. No game is perfect, but some of the problems with the show are rediculous for 09.

# 7 RaychelSnr @ Jul 3

Art, what other game which has been released thus far is better than the Show? I know a lot of guys have serious gripes with the game a far as it's glitches and such, but other than Fight Night, I really don't see a game that mirrors it's sport better than The Show.

# 8 19 @ Jul 5

MLB 09 The Show is the sports game of the year until Madden 10 and NHL 10
are released. I have high hopes for NHL 10.

# 9 RaychelSnr @ Jul 5

I definitely have high hopes for NHL 10...One game that no one has mentioned as a top sports game is FIFA. I think FIFA is a sleeper this year. It could definitely garner some GOTY attention if enough additions and refinements are made. But that's just MHO.

# 10 Salhus @ Jul 5

I completely agree with the FIFA remark. FIFA 09 had some great things going for it, but then had issues that dragged it down. If those issues are focused on for this years title, watch out.